940 Front Bumper Repair

1994 Model 940 4-door

The plastic cowling that covers the bumper no longer snaps into place just forward of the front wheels. It seems like some plastic studs on the cowling are either broken or missing. How to go about repairing? Looks like I should remove the bumper first, then deal with the plastic cowling.

1). Is it likely that a new cowling will be needed?
2). Do headlights need to be removed first?

Thanks!
Lazarus
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I repaired my front bumper a while ago while I had it off for refinishing.

There are two hooks on each end of the bumper that are attached to the bumper by way of 3 or 4 plastic 'rivets'. These rivets are plastic studs that were part of the bumper, and once the hook piece is held against the bumper (with holes over the studs), they apply heat to the plastic studs to melt them over the holes and hold the hooks on. The hooks then slide over their mate on the fender.

These stud/rivets snap over time which leads to the hanging bumper.

Mine were not too far gone and had just pulled away from the bumper cover a bit. I used a heat gun to soften the plastic and to heat a metal rod, then used the rod to push the plastic stud back down. Looks like yours are too far gone for that, you might be able to rig something up with some carriage bolts and nuts, and paint the carriage bolt head black as it would be on the outside of the bumper.

Very easy to remove the bumper, it was 4 or 6 nuts I believe. You remove the nuts and then slide it off towards the front. Ideally with a friend, but I took it off myself, and somehow got it back on myself too. I did not need to remove the headlights. The cover comes off with the bumper attached.

I really need to start taking pictures of projects in progress, I never think about it until the project is done.

What he said above. I fix these often. The end of the plastic pin rips off when the bumper takes a hit. The pins are actually hollow for most of their length. Trim the ends with a razor knife so the pins will go back through the hole in the bracket. When you can easily place the bracket back in place, you're ready for the next step. Drill the pins to a size that is appropriate for a #8 sheet metal screw using a drill stop so that you don't go clear through the bumper. You are creating a space for the sheet metal screw to bite into the inside of the tube you are creating. Once you have this step done, clean up both surfaces, bumper shell and bracket, and sand them with a scotchbrite. Next, apply urethane windshield sealer to both surfaces and bond them together. Use the #8 sheet metal screws with #10 flat washers under their heads to attach the two parts together. The sheet metal screws can be 3/8"-1/2" long. Once the urethane is set up, you have a repair that is much stronger than the original assembly.

Thanks for the comments. I'm a little slow on this point...do I remove the whole bumper assembly, plastic and metal together, before doing anything else? I'm looking at the official Volvo green book and it shows a separate upper and lower plastic cowl. I'm assuming the 2 pieces stay together. Unfortunately there is only a rough drawing in the book showing nuts, screws and clips floating in space.

6 bolts hold the metal bumper, but the drawing makes it look like you can't get to them without removing the plastic first. If I can believe the drawing, only 2 nuts hold the plastic to the metal bumper. I'll see if I can get a few photos of this for others to look at.

Thanks,
Lazarus

I forget exactly how the cover was attached to the bumper, but it was really easy to take the whole bumper assembly off the car.

From what I remember, on mine there were some sort of plastic push-rivets attaching the cover to the bumper, and I only have about a 40% success rate at not crumbling those.


The lower trim piece can stay on. Might be a good time to add a zip tie or two if the lower trim is missing a clip.

I forgot to add the disclaimer to my post above, that someone would for sure have a better solution than my carriage bolt idea lol.

OK, I'm embarrassed at how simple it is. Just under the main part of the bumper are 2 secret panels about 8" square. They swing open and give access to 2 nuts on each side holding the bumper to the bumper struts. A 10 minute job if you drink a beer between sides.

I see how the outside edges are held and now it makes sense what to do to fix the broken clips. This stuff appears to be ABS. I'm trying out some black ABS cement on a spot on the clip to see if it takes. There are 5 studs that hold those clips onto the bumper and all 5 of them had snapped off.

Now I'll get some photos.

Lazarus

The bumper shock has a fastener toward the rear of the shock on each side if you're planning to remove bumper shocks. Don't forget to remove this. The location for this is under the air box and near the battery tray.

Here are some photos. Sorry everything looks terrible because we just had a pollen blizzard. Under the main part of the bumper are 2 access doors:
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You can get a ratchet (16mm) in there to remove 2 bolts on each side. Remove the temp sensor first (driver's side). Bumper pulls straight off. Be sure not to let it sag or twist, otherwise those stupid clips will break off.

Here's what's inside the cowling:
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This is what it fits into:
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You can see how easily the inside panel snaps off tiny plastic studs. The studs are just mashed using a hot iron, but are not bonded. Both sides were snapped off on my bumper. Seems like you can wreck them just by removing the bumper incorrectly (not keeping it straight.)
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Since there isn't much left of those tiny plastic studs, I couldn't bring myself to drill them. Besides, there is only about 1/4" of height left once you trim them up. I used Black ABS cement so we'll see how that is working tomorrow. I will add some urethane cement. As you can tell, I absolutely hate this design. Thanks all for the suggestions.

Lazaus